YouTube: ‘Otters Holding Hands’

Was sent this clip of a couple of sea otters at Vancouver Aquarium “Holding hands”, a natural behaviour that they can use with other otters to form an otter raft.

Although wild sea otters raft in areas without kelp, they will often tangle themselves in kelp to stay near kelp beds and will sometimes hold paws with other otters to form a raft. In British Columbia, sea otter rafts can consist of up to 150 resting individuals!

In Canada, disturbing sea otters in the wild is illegal. People must stay 100m away. Watching female/pup rafts is likely very disruptive to them, according to sea otter expert Dr. Jane Watson.

“In fact the best place to get a good look at sea otters and their behaviour is at the Aquarium. Sea otters take to captivity well – the behaviours visitors see at the Aquarium, are the same sea otter behaviours you would see in the wild,” she adds.